Wednesday, September 26, 2012

As an author, do you track your book sales? I know that I do. I actually have an app on my phone that "tracks" my sales on Amazon. It's not an exact match but it's close enough to the real sales totals. I also check the rankings of my books. I especially do this when I release a new book. People who have never released a book, don't realize how nerve wracking a new release can be. Will people like it? Will people buy it? So I do track, sometimes obsessively.

One good think I like about using Novel Rank of my phone is when I see my books sell one right after the other. This is the scenario I build in my mind. A reader finds one of my books by accident and buy it. They really like what they have read and then buy a second book by me. After reading that second, they just can't wait to buy the third and go ahead and do it. Now my friends can tell you that I am nothing but a rational person in my real life. In my writing life, it's all champagne and roses in my dreams. Do I realize that the sales could be totally random? Yes, I do. Isn't my "explanation" such a better one? That's the beauty of being a writer, worlds can be created!

Tomorrow, I am blogging over at Carrie Ann Ryan's blog. How I feel into this opportunity, I do not know but I appreciate someone like her giving me time on her blog.

Today is a crazy day. My husband and I have the first home visit for our adoption journey. Do I feel the house is ready? No and I'm freaking out but it will be the best it can be by two this afternoon. Wish me luck and come visit me tomorrow, so it looks like I have some friends.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Today is the first anniversary of my book Fated Mates being published. It was truly a labor of love. It had been rattling around in my head for so long, I'm actually surprised my lead character of Dragon didn't pop out of my head and say "WTF" write it down already. It went through so many different versions. Thinking back a lot of the scene's that I deleted, I should have saved and put into the book. The original story had a lot of Dragon back story. You read about the the war and his capture and torture and his fight to get back into the service to come to Earth and meet Liz. I can't say why those scenes didn't make it into the final book. Probably a bad decision on my part, I wanted to jump into the meat of the story.

I have to give a lot of credit to Amber Skyze for Fated Mates being published. Before "meeting" her, I simply was a school teacher from Rhode Island who had a lot of stories in her head. I loved reading erotic romances and every two weeks, I would buy one from Ellora's Cave. One day when I was going through the bio of one of the authors of the books I had just read, I noticed that she was from the same state as me. So in typical "Marie" fashion, I wrote her a fan letter. I told her how much I loved her book, asked her how she got started...and so it began. Amber was wonderful. She answered all my questions and as we got to know one another, we found out we had a huge amount of things in common in our professional as well as our personal lives. She was on the one to recommend Secret Cravings Publishing to me. She heard they were an up and coming publishing company and to give them a try. Within three days of submitting, I had a contract.

Although it turned out fabulous with SCP, Fated Mates dodged a few bullets with other publishing companies where it was submitted. The first publishing company that I sent the manuscript to, sent me a rejection letter within a few hours. It was Aspen Mountain Press. I am extremely glad that someone that day didn't like it because if they did I would be along with the hundreds of other authors fighting viciously to get their rights back from them after their massive implosion. The second company, Noble Romance, had a bit of interest with it. It went back and forth a few times with them wanting revisions, from one editor to the next editor. But when the decision came down to making one, a final editor that I hadn't worked with, gave me the rejection. I really think if it was the editor who wanted the revisions, it would have ended up there. Where would I be today? The same place as with Aspen, trying to get my rights back from a company who wasn't paying their authors their royalties.

So I guess everything happens for a reason, although I hate that phrase unless it's working for me. In this case, it totally did. I love being a SCP author. I love the editors there, Beth and Ariana are the best. Since Fated Mates, I've published two more books and have a contract of three more, a paranormal trilogy that I'm feverishly working on now. So it's been a great writing year, and I'm looking for more to come.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

I am honored to be part of the Anniversary Indulgent Blog Hop. September is special to be because it's my own anniversary of a sort. September 18th is the one year anniversary of when I first became a published writer. I can't tell you how excited, overwhelmed, and frightened I was over the prospect of having my first book published. Yes, I did say frightened. One of the major fears a writer has is, what if no one buys my book! It's true and it's really scary. Then, you start thinking about what if they don't like it but that comes later. I'm also glad to say that two more have been published in my first year as a professional writer and I am feverishly working on a four which should come out in December and be in print also. I can't wait just to hold the book in my hands.

So I am giving away a copy of my first book Fated Mated to a lucky commenter. Please leave a comment about your favorite indulgence, and your email address. The story is a sci-fi erotic romance with a lot of heat. I just want to let you know!

Fated Mates Blurb:

We know that we are no longer alone in the universe. Descendants of Earthly ancestors have returned to find the other halves of themselves, their destined mates.

Dragon, a scarred Serralian warrior drawn to the planet of his ancestors, never believed the Goddess had a mate for him but no matter what he believes, he’s unable to resist the pull of the planet deep within in soul.

Liz, a curvy teacher who escaped an abusive marriage three years earlier is afraid to take another chance on love. Tired of being abystander in her own love life, she participates in an ancient ritual to identify Serralian mates. Taking that chance changes her life forever. Can these two people overcome their pasts to become each other’s true Fated Mates?

Fated Mates Excerpt:

Liz woke up with the sounds of waves crashing in her ears. Confident of the lack of beachfront property within her condo, she wondered what destiny had in mind for her now. She sat up looking around at her surroundings. Lying under a beautiful canopy tent draped with yards and yards of gauzy royal blue material swaying gently in the breeze, and keeping the rays of the sun from beating down on her body. Liz ran her hands over the bedding beneath her. It felt softer and smoother than the highest count Egyptian cotton sheets bought in Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

The beautiful beach reminded her of pictures of exquisite Caribbean beaches with turquoise waves and miles and miles of powdery white sand. The gentle breezes lightly ruffled her hair as she walked down the beach to the edge of the water which rose up to meet her feet, tickling her toes.

“Well, Dorothy, you’re not in Kansas anymore,” she said looking up at a foreign sky with two moons in the distance.

“I must be dreaming. I read so much information about Serralia I’m dreaming about it in Technicolor. Damn! This is one realistic mother of a dream.”

Suddenly, her senses went on high alert. She didn’t know if the air around her had changed or if her body sensed another person behind her, but she knew she was no longer alone and somehow her mate stood behind her.

Two strong bronze hands slowly encircled her waist, pulling her gently back to into a lean, hard body. Liz sighed. This felt right. She snuggled deeper into the embrace. Nothing ever felt this right before. She could stand here in the safety of his arms forever.

“I’ve been waiting for you. I thought you would never get here,” she whispered.

“I’m sorry it took so long. I never let myself believe you existed.”

“I read your file.” The hands moving on her stomach stilled. “I’m sorry for what you had to go through alone. I would have been there for you if I had known.”

“I wouldn’t have been there if I had faith I would find you someday.” Dragon’s chest expanded letting her love and comfort wash over him. “So you know?”

“About everything that happened to you when you were taken prisoner? Yes, I know. I know you lost an eye and still wear an eye patch. I bet it makes you look rakishly handsome.”

She felt the chuckle in his chest before she heard it. The heat of his body warmed her back and aroused her body.

“I have never been told such a thing.”

“Well, I’m sure it does.”

She stroked the muscular forearms at her waist with light caresses. His body trembled behind her.

“We’ve never met in person, but I already feel connected to you. Is it normal?”

“The bonding happens when we are connected as mates. Normal. I don’t know. Right, yes.”

“Do you know about me?” she whispered.

“I know you are perfect.” He leaned down and sweetly kissed the top of her head.

Liz stilled, she might as well tell him about her marriage. She didn’t want any secrets between them.

“I was married before,” she blurted out nervously. “He was not a nice man. He hurt me, not only physically, but verbally too. It took a long time, but I left him.”

Dragon fully stilled behind her. All the wonderful stroking stopped. Her stomach dropped down to her feet. Shit! I’ve ruined this already. She knew her mistake of a marriage would follow her around for the rest of her life. She knew it.

“You don’t know how much pain it causes me to know how much pain you had to endure. I would gladly be tortured again if it meant taking it away from you. You never have to be afraid with me. I would sooner cut off my own arm than hurt a hair on this beautiful head.”

Liz nodded, the lump in her throat making any physical speech impossible.

“I realize it might be a while before you believe this, but it is true.”

“I do believe you. I don’t know why, but I do.”

“Good. Now, we can continue what we started here.”

Callused thumbs again stroked her stomach making it quiver and her pulse quicken. If this was what he could do to her body with only his thumbs, she might actually die from pleasure. She smiled thinking about what her obituary would say. Woman dies from having the most intense sexual experience of her life, then her brain stopped working; her body took over and went into overload.

About Me

Writing has always been part of my life. As the oldest of four, I would write stories and plays to amuse my younger siblings. At the age of thirteen, I was published in the school paper. It was a narrative about a talking squirrel. In high school, I graduated into writing "fan fiction" where my favorite movie stars were the stars. I would read them to my friends at lunch. I was never seen without a notebook in my hand for my writing.

I always am thinking up stories in my head, so it was a natural progression to start putting them on paper. My dream of becoming a published author came true with the publication of my first novella Fated Mates!

I live in Rhode Island with my wonderful husband, who the minute he walked through the door of Friendly's Ice Cream, I knew I would marry him. We share our little house with two crazy cats who think they share their house with us!